European space tug. Study 1985. The Integrated Cargo Carrier was located at the forward end of the ATV. It represented 60% of the total ATV volume and carried all of the cargo for resupplying the Station.

The ICC was designed to resupply the ISS with up to 7667 kg of cargo. Depending on the needs of the ISS, each ATV mission could accommodate a different mix of supplies, up to the following maximum for each category: 840 kg of drinking water; - 100 kg of air oxygen and nitrogen; 860 kg of refueling propellant for the Station's propulsion system; 4700 kg of propellant for re-boost; and 5500 kg of equipment, dry goods and fresh food stored in bags or drawers. The ICC consisted of the following sections:

Front Cone (Rendezvous and Docking Equipment): The nose of the Integrated Cargo Carrier housed the Russian-made docking system and avionics and propulsion hardware, used for the automatic approach, rendezvous and docking of the ATV with the ISS. The ATV was the active spacecraft during rendezvous with the ISS. Avionics for this mission included two videometers (an image processing system that computed distance to and orientation of the ISS), two telegoniometers (which continuously calculated distance and direction from the ATV to the ISS), two star trackers (which recognized constellations in the sky to determine orientation), two visual video targets (used by the ISS crew for visual monitoring of the ATV final approach) and 8 minijets for attitude control. The 235 kg Russian docking system was designed to couple to the Zvezda module if the station and enabled physical, electrical and propellant connections with the Station. It also ensured the ISS crew access to the pressurized section of the Integrated Cargo Carrier through an 80 cm-diameter hatch, accessed by physically removing the docking mechanism. The Russian docking system was the same used on the Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and had been continuously refined since its first use in the late 1960s.

Pressurized Section (Dry cargo): After docking with the Station and carrying out important procedures such as leak checks, the crew could open the Zvezda hatch, remove the ATV docking mechanism, and enter the 48 m³ pressurized section of the Integrated Cargo Carrier. Up to two astronauts could work, unloading supplies and conducting experiments, while the hatch remained constantly opened between the ISS and the ATV. The pressurized section contained the dry cargo, such as maintenance supplies, science hardware, parcels of fresh food, mail and personal items. The Pressurized Section accounted for 90% of the volume of the Integrated Cargo Carrier and had room for up to eight standard aluminum racks to store equipment and transfer bags. The ATV pressurized cargo section was based on the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), which was in service as a Shuttle-carried space barge, transporting equipment to and from the Station.

Unpressurized section (Fluid cargo): Behind the back wall of the pressurized section was the unpressurised section of the Integrated Cargo Carrier. This external bay housed 22 spherical fluid tanks of different sizes. These tanks were used to resupply the Station with refueling propellant for the Station's own propulsion system, and water, oxygen and nitrogen for the crew. This cylindrical bay and its tanks were not visible from outside the ATV as they were enclosed by the ATV Service Module. The fluid tanks' contents were transferred through either dedicated pipes to the Station's own fluid lines or through manually operated hoses.

Ariane 5 French orbital launch vehicle. The Ariane 5 was a completely new design, unrelated to the earlier Ariane 1 to 4. It consisted of a single-engine Lox/LH2 core stage flanked by two solid rocket boosters. Preparatory work began in 1984. Full scale development began in 1988 and cost $ 8 billion. The design was sized for the Hermes manned spaceplane, later cancelled. This resulted in the booster being a bit too large for the main commercial payload, geosynchronous communications satellites. As a result, development of an uprated version capable of launching two such satellites at a time was funded in 2000. More...

Associated Manufacturers and Agencies

ESA European agency overseeing development of rockets and spacecraft. European Space Agency, Europe. More...